The present invention relates generally to paint rollers and, more particularly, to a paint roller having a pile covering made of continuous yarn tuftstrings.
It is known in the art to form paint rollers by winding strips of pile material around a plastic or cardboard tube. An adhesive is used to bind the strips to the tube. One example of such a paint roller is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,414 to Garcia et al. In Garcia et al., the strips have pile material upstanding from a fabric base, and the fabric base is adhesively bonded to the tube using a thermosetting adhesive which is applied during winding of the strip.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,629 to Mokhtar et al. describes a new method of making pile "tuftstrings." Briefly, each tuftstring is made by wrapping yarn around a mandrel on which a support strand is translated. As the support strand moves, it transports "wraps" of yarn to an ultrasonic welder which connects the wraps to the support strand. The bonded wraps are further transported to a slitter station which cuts the wraps and thereby forms the tuftstring. The tuftstring includes two rows of upstanding legs or tufts which are attached at their bases to the support strand.
The yarn of Mokhtar et al. is a multifilament, crimped, bulky yarn that is made preferably of a thermoplastic polymer, such as nylon, polypropylene, etc. The support strand is likewise preferably a thermoplastic polymer so that, when passed under the ultrasonic welder, the yarn and support strand melt to form a bond therebetween. The tuftstrings of Mokhtar et al. represent an improvement in the methods of making tufted articles.
The present invention represents an improvement in the art of making paint rollers, using the tuftstrings of Mokhtar et al.